Bagging-scale.



W. H. SAWYER.-

BAGGING SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-26.1914. 1,140,485.

Patented May 25, 1915.

4 SHEETSSHEET 2.

lll

lnventor Attorneys 5 60., PHoTo-urua, WASHINGTON, n. c.

Patented May 25, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3- Attorneys W. H. SAWYER.

BAGGING SCALE. APPLICATION FILED -JAN- 26. 1914. 1,140,485.

C0,. FHOTD-LITHO.. WASHINGTON, D. C

Witnesses THE NORRIS PETERS yaw M W. H. SAWYER.

BAGGING SCALE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26, 1914.

1,140,485. Patented May 25, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4- nventor Attorn eys THE NORRIS PETERS 50., FHOTOLITHONWASHINGTON B4 c WALTER H. SAWYER, OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA.

BAGGING-SCALE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 25, 1915.

Application filed January 26, 1914. Serial No. 814,493.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER H. SAWYER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Americus, in the county of Sumter and State of Georgia, haveinvented a new and useful Bagging-Scale, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to machines of that type commonly known asbagging scales and which utilize means whereby, when a bag is filledwith a predetermined quantity of material, the supply of material is cutoff automatically.

One of the objects of the invention is to render the scales moreaccurate in operation by providing means whereby the flow of materialthrough the outlet of the hopper or other receptacle provided, will bepartially cut off automatically after a certain amount has beendischarged, the material continuing to flow outwardly in a greatlyreduced stream so that the material deposited in the sack or otherreceptacle, is brought slowly and gradually to the predeterminedultimate weight whereupon the supply will be completely out 01fautomaticall A further object is to provide cut-ofi's of novel formwhich operate by gravity to close the outlet when they are released fromtheir retaining means.

Another object is to provide novel means whereby the cut-offs are causedto open and close in unison without the use of gears or other toothedelements likely to become clogged with dust and thus interfere withtheir operation.

A further object is to provide novel means for holding the cut-ofis inopen and in partly open positions.

Another object is to provide means whereby the time at which the partialcut-off occurs can be regulated.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings the pre ferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatusconstituting the present invention. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation thereof.Fig. 3 is a plan view. Fig. i is a section on line A-B Fig. 3, theoutlet being shown open. Fig. 5 is a view slmilar to Fig. i but showingthe hopper and the cut-ofis in elevation, said cut-ofls being in theirintermediate or partly closed positions. Fig. 6 is a view similar toFig. 5 and showing the cut-offs in their closed position. Fig. 7 is aperspective view of the arms of the cut-offs and of the bail and itsconnections. Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one of the cut-offs. Fig. 9is a perspective view of the main dog of the holding mechanlsm. Fig. 10is a perspective view of the shifting lever and its link fortransmitting motion to said main dog. Fig.11 is a perspective view ofthe supplemental dog. Fig. 12 is a longitudinal section through the mainor upper dog. Fig. 13 is a transverse section therethrough. Fig. 14 is adetail view of the slide used in the main dog. Fig. 15 is a perspectiveview of the graduated strip.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates thescale supporting structure to which is secured a housing 2 constitutinga connection therebetween. This housing may be provided with a removablerear face plate 3 and, as shown in Fig. 2, this face plate may be formedwith a sight opening a closed by means of a transparent plate 5 of glassor other suitable material. Mounted on one end portion of the housing 2is a tubular standard 6 intowhich projects a screw threaded stem 7 andan adjusting nut 8 is mounted on this stem 7 and bears downwardly on theupper end of the standard 6. The lower end of the stem 7 may beconnected in any suitable manner to the upper end portion of a coiledspring 9 which is thus supported within one end portion of the housing2. A bracket 10 extends downwardly within the opposed end portion ofhousing 2 and carries a knife edge 11 engaged by the notched end oflever 12 of the third class, the other end of the lever being engaged bythe lower end portion of the spring 9. Knife edges 13 eX- tend fromopposite sides of lever 12 and engage eyes 14: formed at the ends of asupporting stirrup 15.

The bottom of the housing 2 is formed with a longitudinal slot 16 acrosswhich eX- tends a fulcrum block 17 provided with the usual knife edge,not shown. This fulcrum block is held in any position to which it may eadjusted, by means of a clamping screw 18 which engages the bottom ofthe block and extends through the slot 16. Obviously by tightening thescrew, its head will bind upon the bottom of the housing 2 and thus holdthe block against movement. A curved index or pointer 19 extends fromthe fulcrum block and arches over a graduated strip :20 which is securedto the bottom of the housing, this strip being preferably formed withfeet :21 fastened to the housing in any preferred manner. Thegraduations on the strip can be suitably designated. This strip has beenshown in detail in Fig. 15. It w'll be apparent that by loosening thescrew 18, the fulcrum block can be shifted so as to cause the index 19to register with any one of the graduations on the strip 20.

The main beam or lever 21 of the scales is arranged within the housingunder the supplemental or tripping lever 12 and has a notched end whichbears on a knife edge 23 within the stirrup 15 while the other endportion of the lever is formed with a series of notches 24:, any one ofwhich is adapted to receive the knife edge on the fulcrum block 17.These notches 24s are spaced apart distances equal to the distancesbetween the corresponding graduations on the strip 20, as will beapparent by referring particularly to Fig. 2.

Knife edges 95 extend in opposite directions from lever 21 and engageeyes 26 formed at the ends of a stirrup 27 which, in turn, engages a bar28. This bar 28 is adapted to be actuated by any suitable mechanismreceiving motion from a bag or other receptacle supported under theoutlet of a feeding element or hopper such as will be hereinafterdescribed. For example, bar 28 can be connected to a frame F mounted toswing about a horizontal axis G and carrying a bag supporting funnel Hor the like adapted to hold a bag in position to be filled. l l ith thisarrangement, as the bag is lilied the i cr ising weight of materialsupplied thereto will cause the frame l to sv-sing downwardly and pullon bar 28. This bar 28 extends loosely through an opening 29 formed inthe bottom of the housing 2.

Brackets 00 are extended forwardly from the housing 2 and are connectedby a top plate 31 which, in turn, is secured in any suitable manner tothe upper edge portion of a hopper The top of the hopper is open and ispreferably flanged, as at 33, so that a suitable receptacle can bemounted on and secured to the hopper so as to discharge its contentsinto the hopper. The bottom of the hopper is preferably concaved and abroad outlet opening 34 extends throughout the width of the hopper atthe bottom thereof. Pivot studs extend from the sides of the hopper andthe bottom of the hopper is concentric with these studs.

ll/lounted on each of the studs 35 and close to the outer face of theadjacent side of the hopper are two oppositely disposed Lshaped levers36 and 37, the angle portion of each lever 37 being oll'sot, as shown at38, so that the angle portions of the two levers can lap where theyengage the studs 35. The long arm of each lever has an enlargement 39and interposed between the enlargements of the corresponding levers is acurved cut-off plate 10 having ears 41 adapted to receive belts or thelike whereby the enlargements 39 may be secured to the ends of thecutoff plates. The cut-off plates are so shaped as to slide along thecurved bottom of the hopper and, when the plates are in their lowermostpositions, they contact so as thus to close the outlet opening 34:.Those edges of the plates l0 adapted to contact are preferably beveled,as shown at 42, so as positively to cut off the material and prevent itfrom being caught between the plates l0 and thus interfering with theclosing together of the plates. One of the cut-off plates is providedwith a handle as shown.

A. bail H straddles the hopper 32 pivotally connected thereto at itsends, as shown at 45. Spaced links .46 connect each side of the bail 44to the adjacent short arms of the levers 36 and 37. These links are soarranged and proportioned that when the handle 43 and its cut-off plate12 are swung upwardly, the links #6 operated thereby will push upwardlyagainst the bail l land cause said bail to pull through the other linksl6 upon the short arms of the members 36. Thus the two cut-off plateswill be moved apart and the outlet opening ill will be exposed.lnterposed between the brackets 30 and directly under the top plate 31is a casing 4-7 the front face of which open and is curved so to lieclose to and concentric with the path of the intermediate portion ofbail 4-4. Mounted within the upper portion of this casing e'l-Y is theupper or main dog -il8 of the holding mecha nism. This dog, which hasbeen illustrated in detail in Fig. 9, has its pivot engaging portionextended forwardly from the up per end thereof as shown at 4-9 and thebulk of the weight of the dog is thus located back of the pivot. Thedowinvardly extending portion of the dog is forked, as shown at 50 andhas forwardly projecting shoulders 51. Additional weight may be added tothe back portion of the dog by extending a lip therefrom. A link 53projects into the forked lower portion of the dog +18 and is pivotallyconnected thereto, this link extending rearwardly into an opening 54 andis formed in the back of the casing 47 and in the front of the housing2. Fulcrumed within this opening 54 is a lever 55 to the upper end ofwhich the link 53 is connected. A finger 56 is fixedly connected to andeX- tends rearwardly from the lever 55 and projects under and normallyout of contact with the secondary or tripping lever 12. As the dog 48tends to swing downwardly and forwardly, it will be apparent that theweight thereof will hold the finger 56 normally elevated but spaced fromlever 12. This arrangement of the parts is illustrated in Fig. 4.

Mounted within the lower portion of the casing 47 is the lower orsupplemental dog 57 which has been shown in detail in Fig. 11. Thissupplemental dog is fulcrumed back of the center of its upper end, asshown at 58 so that the greater portion of the weight of the dog islocated below and in front of the pivot thereof when said dog is in itsset position as shown in Fig. 4. An upwardly and extends from the top ofthe dog 57 and is adapted, when the dogs are set, to extend into theforked portion of the main or upper dog 48 so as to lie back of theshoulders 51. A shoulder 60 is formed along the upper face of dog 57 andthe rear portion of the upper face of the dog is inclined and adapted tobe engaged by the lower end of the dog 48 so as to thus hold the lowerdog against rotation about its pivot.

In order that the movement of dog 48 necessary to release the bail 44can be varied at will, it is preferred to so mount the shoulders 51 thatthey can be adjusted relative to the dog. For this purpose the saidshoulders 51 are preferably formed at the ends of a substantiallyU-shaped slide 61 the side portions of which are mounted within grooves62 formed in the inner sides of the forked portion of the dog. The backportion of the slide 61 is engaged by an adjusting screw 63 which ispreferably swiveled within the dog, as shown at 64 and is adapted, whenrotated, to shift the slide 61 relative to the dog 48 and thus projectthe shoulders 51 outwardly or draw them inwardly as desired. The saidshoulders may be provided with deflecting tongues 65 at their lower endsand which are curved downwardly and rearwardly as shown. \Vith thisarrangement it will be apparent that by adjusting the shoulders 51 forwardly, the time during which the bail 44 will be engaged thereby duringthe rearward swinging of dog 48 will be prolonged whereas, by drawingthe shoulders 51 rearwardly relative to dog 48, this period ofengagement with the bail will be shortened. Both of the shoulders 60 and51 are located directly in the path of the intermediate portion of ball44 so that, when the bail is movforwardly curved tongue 59 ing upwardlyalong the front face of the casing 47, it will successively strike theshoulders 60 and 51 so as to push the dogs rearwardly successively untilsaid intermediate portion of the bail assumes a position above the uppershoulders 51 whereupon dog 48 will gravitate back so as to bring saidintermediate portion of the bail.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: Let it be assumed that abag or the like to be filled is located under the hopper 32 uponstructure F which, when depressed by the weight of the bag or otherreceptacle and its contents will pull downwardly on the bar 28. Let itbe assumed furthermore that a receptacle containing the material to bebagged is mounted above and discharging into the hopper 32. When thecut-offs 42 are in their closed positions, the material will beprevented from discharging through the outlet 34. Should it be desiredto deposit one hundred pounds of material within the sack, the fulcrumblock 17 is adjusted, in the manner hereinbefore described, until theindex 19 registers with the graduation on strip 20 which indicates onehundred pounds. When the block is thus positioned it will project intothe corresponding notch 24 in the main lever 21. After the scales havethus been adjusted, the operator pulls upwardly on handle 43. The twooutoff plates 40 will thus move upwardly away from the opening 34 to thepositions shown in Fig. 4 and during this movement of the cut-off plates40, the bail 44 will be swung upwardly and will first pass the shoulder60, then strike the tongue 59 and push it rearwardly into the forkedportion of dog 48, and then pass over the upper shoulder 51. As soon asthe bail passes this upper shoulder, dog 48 will gravitate forwardly soas to position the shoulder under the intermediate portion of the bail44, whereupon the bail will be held as illustrated in Fig. 4. As soon asthe cut-off plates 40 are moved apart as shown in Fig. 4, the materialin the hopper 32 will gravitate through the opening 34 and into the bagor other receptacle thereunder. As the weight of the bag and itscontents gradually increases, lever 21 will be pulled downwardly slowlyby the bar 28, thus pulling on stirrup 15 and causing the tripping orsupplemental lever 12 to swing downwardly upon its fulcrum 11 andagainst the action of spring 9. This lever 12 will ultimately moveagainst the finger 56 and swing it downwardly slowly, and as this fingeris integral with lever 55, said lever will be swung upon its fulcrum andwill pull, through link 53, upon dog 48. Thus the dog will be graduallywithdrawn from engagement with the upper end of the dog 57 and when dog48 has moved a predetermined distance, the shoulders 51 will beshoulders 51 directly under the.

withdrawn from under the bail 44E. Said bail will promptly gravitatealong the front face of the tongue 59 until it comes against the lowershoulder 60. During this gravitation of the bail, the cutoff plates etOwill swing toward each other so as to partly close the outlet opening34: and thus reduce the stream of material discharging through theopening. This smaller stream of material will continue to dischargeuntil the bag or other receptacle has received its predeterminedquantity whereupon the downwardly moving supplemental or tripping lever12 will bring the finger 56 to such a point as to completely withdrawthe lower end of dog 48 from above dog 57. Thereupon the dog 57 will bereleased and shoulder 60 will move downwardly and rearwardly, thusreleasing bail 44C and permitting the cut-off plates 40 to move togetherand thus cut off the flow of material. The intermediate position assumedby the dogs and the bail has been illustrated in Fig. 5 and the ultimateposition of the parts has been illustrated in Fig. 6. As soon as the bar28 is relieved of the weight of the filled sack or other receptacle, thespring 9 will return the levers 12 and 21 to their initial positions anddog l8 will swing downwardly and forwardly, thus elevating finger 56 toits normal position. Obviously, therefore, the holding mechanism willthus be reset whereupon the operation hereinbefore described can berepeated.

By providing shoulders 51 which are adjustable relative to the dog 28,the interval during which a reduced flow of material is discharged fromthe hopper, can be length ened or shortened. For example if the partsare set so that the bail A will be released from shoulders 51 when thebag being filled has received seventyfive pounds of material and thesaid bail will be released from shoulder 60 when the bag has receivedone hundred pounds of material, the last twenty-five pounds of thematerial will be discharged in a reduced stream. If, however, it shouldbe desired; to so adjust the parts that the last fifteen pounds onlywould be discharged in a reduced stream, it would be necessary to adjustthe slide 61 forwardly so that the shoulders 51 would present increasedareas to the bail a l. Thus a greater rearward movement of dog 48 wouldbe necessary in order to release bail 44 and the time of release wouldthus be nearer the time when the bail would be released from theshoulder 60.

Importance is attached to the particular means provided whereby the baili l is elevated and the two cutoff plates are operated in unison. Byproviding link connections between the arms of the cut-offs and thebail, this movement of the cut-off plates in unison is effected withoutthe necessity of utilizing toothed segments or the like such as haveheretofore been employed and which are objectionable because they soonbecome clogged with dust, etc.

What is claimed is:-

1. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, opposedcut-offs, a pivoted member, a connection between said member and eachcut-off, means for engaging said member to hold the cut-oil's in openposition, and means under the control of a receptacle being filled forreleasing said holding means, thereby to release the member andcut-offs.

2. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a cutoff, amember movable with the cut-ofi', means for engaging said member to holdthe cut-off in open po sition, and means under the control of areceptacle being filled for actuating said holding means to release themember and cut- 0 3. In bagging scales, a feeding element having anoutlet opening, a cut-off, a member movable with the cut-off, a pivotedelement, means adjustably mounted on said element for engaging saidmember to hold the cut-off in open position, and means un der thecontrol of a receptacle being filled for actuating said pivoted elementto release the member and the cut-off.

In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a cut-off, amember movable with the cut-off, a pivoted element, a shoulder thereinfor engaging said member to hold the cut-off in open position, meansunder the control of a receptacle being filled for actuating saidpivoted element to withdraw the shoulder from engagement with themember, and means for adjusting said shoulder to vary its period ofengagement with the member during the actuation of the pivoted element.

In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a cut-off, amember movable therewith, a pivoted element for engaging said member tohold the cut-off in open position, means under the control of areceptacle being filled for actuating said element to release themember, a pivoted element for engagement by he released member to holdthe cut-off in partly closed position, the first named pivoted elementconstituting means for holding the last named pivoted element againstmovement, and said last named element being movable to release the saidcut-off member when the first named pivoted element is shifted apredetermined distance.

6. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a cut-off, amember movable with the cutofi', an upper pivoted ele ment for engagingsaid member to hold the cut-off in open position, a lower pivotedelement held against movement by said upper element, and means under thecontrol of a receptacle being filled, for actuating the upper element tosuccessively release said member and the lower pivoted element, thereleased member being movable against an adapted to be supported by thelower pivoted element until said last named element is released.

7. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a pivotedholding element, means under the control of a receptacle being filledfor actuating said element, arms mounted to swing at the sides of thefeeding element, a cut-off carried by the arms, a member mounted toswing upon the feeding element and to be engaged by the holding element,and link connections between said member and the arms whereby, when thecutoff is moved to open position, the mem ber is elevated intoengagement with the pivoted element.

8. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, angular armsmounted to swing at the sides of said element, a cut-off carriedthereby, a bail pivotally connected to the feeding element, linkconnections between said bail and the arms, a pivoted element adapted tobe engaged by said member to hold the cut-off in open position, andmeans under the control of a receptacle being filled, for actuating saidpivoted element to release the member.

9. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, oppositelydisposed arms at each side of said feeding element and pivotally mountedat their angle portions, cut-offs interposed between and connected tothe corresponding arms at the sides of the feeding element, a bailpivotally connected to the sides of the feeding element, linkconnections between the bail and the upper ends of the arms, said armsand links cooperating, when one of the cut-offs is moved to openposition, to elevate the bail and move the other cut;off to openposition.

10. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, oppositelydisposed arms at each side of said feeding element and pivotally mountedat their angle portions, cut-offs interposed between and connected tothe corresponding arms at the sides of the feeding element, a bailpivotally connected to the sides of the feeding element, linkconnections between the bail and the upper ends of the arms, said armsand links cooperating, when one of the cut-offs is moved to openposition, to elevate the bail and move the other cut-01f to openposition,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for a pivoted element for engagingthe bail to hold the cut-offs in open position, and means under thecontrol of a receptacle being filled for actuating said pivoted elementto release the bail.

11. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, oppositelydisposed arms at each side of said feeding element and pivotally mountedat their angle portions, cut-offs interposed between and connected tothe corresponding arms at the sides of the feeding element, a bailpivotally connected to the sides of the feeding element, linkconnections between the bail and the upper ends of the arms, said armsand links cooperating, when one of the cut-offs is moved to openposition, to elevate the bail and move the other cut-off to openposition, a pivoted upper element for engaging the bail to hold thecut-ofis in open position, a lower pivoted element normally held againstmovement by the upper element, and means under the control of areceptacle being filled for actuating the upper pivoted element torelease the bail and deposit it upon the lower pivoted element andsubsequently release the lower pivoted element, said lower element whenreleased, operating to release the bail.

12. In bagging scales, a feeding element having an outlet, a cut-off, amember movable with the cut-oif, an upper pivoted element for engagingthe member to hold the cut-off in open position, a lower pivoted elementnormally held against movement by the upper pivoted element, a lever, alink connection between the lever and the upper pivoted element, afinger integral with the lever, a yieldingly supporting tripping leveroverhanging the finger, and means for transmitting motion from areceptacle being filled to said tripping lever to actuate the finger andsuccessively disengage the upper pivoted element from the cutoff memberand from the lower pivoted element, said member, when released, beingdeposited in engagement with and supported by the lower pivoted element,and said lower element, when released, being adapted to release themember to completely close the cut-off.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WALTER H. SAWYER.

Witnesses:

A. THAD. Gnovnn, H. S. COUNCIL.

five cents each, by addressing the (lommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

